Hastor tenders Grammer stake to Ningbo Jifeng, ending power struggle
08/08/2018 20:29
FRANKFURT, Aug 8 (Reuters) - Bosnian investor Hastor has
tendered its 19 percent stake in German car parts maker Grammer
GMMG.DE to a Chinese peer, ending a two-year power struggle at
the firm.
The Wang family, which holds a majority stake in Chinese car
parts maker Ningbo Jifeng 603997.SS , said last month that its
revised takeover for Grammer had been successful with 37.7
percent of the shares tendered. urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nF9N1U700L
Hastor's Cascade vehicle, which initially wanted to take
over Grammer itself, said in a statement on Wednesday that given
the Chinese firm's stake in Grammer it did not see a possibility
to achieve its original strategic goals at the firm.
Hastor had invested in Grammer in 2016, but Grammer's
management, which had feared that its business would suffer if
the Bosnians increased their influence, had welcomed Ningbo
Jifeng as a white knight. urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL3N1T02WO
Grammer's management warned in May last year that the
growing influence of Bosnia's Hastor family had led carmakers to
pare back business.
The Hastor family also owns auto supplier Prevent, which got
into a dispute with Volkswagen VOWG_p.DE in 2016 resulting in
stoppages at VW's Golf assembly line. The family had demanded
seats on Grammer's supervisory board.
Despite not reaching its strategic goals, the Hastor family
has seen Grammer's share price roughly double since it took its
stake in the company.
(Reporting by Arno Schuetze; Editing by Jan Harvey)
((arno.schuetze@thomsonreuters.com; +49.69.7565.1197; Reuters
Messaging: arno.schuetze.reuters.com@reuters.net))